The Lavish Indian Weddings

The government in India is trying to do something about the astonishing display of opulence in their weddings. While the rich people are spending too much money on this events it leaves the rest of the population hungry.

"Extravagance in weddings should be controlled. It's a vulgar display of wealth." --Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, Congress MP

Indian weddings are extremely colorful and full details. I was hoping to capture it in this illustration. It looks magical to me and (i hope) it says something about 'vulgar display of wealth'.

Quick post!

To make sure I got this guy's face right, i mean, I made a decent caricature of this heartthrob-- I  will leave him nameless and you guys can tell me who he is. :)

This time it will be all in black and white except for my sig. This is an experiment, I wanna see how it will work on the page and the impact it will make as it is just very small. :D

 

Original sketch in pencil. My ketches are always better than my actual finished illustration (in my opinion). The lines are more fluid, softer, and more raw. :)

So, who is this guy?? :)

More uncontacted tribes worldwide

Enough with sports illis for now, here's something more of a news. A qoute from the article itself:

It was once thought that all Yanomami Indians of the Brazilian Amazon had been contacted during the latter half of the 20th century, after which almost a fifth of their people died from diseases carried by gold-miners. Now, days after aerial photographs and footage of a threatened tribe living in the Brazilian rainforest on the border with Peru were published by Survival International, the organisation has revealed that there is a group of uncontacted Yanomami still living in Roraima state, northern Brazil.

I love this illustration but when it was placed on the page, it looked so boxed and unrelated to the text. It's called better 'planning', I guess. I lacked that. :|

Original sketch in graphite pen.

Cricket Stars

So here are the 2011 World Cup Cricket posters that carried illustrations NOT photos. I retreated to my usual style- ink on paper and rendered in PS. This is a very reliable style for me because I am more comfortable and fast when using this style. BUT, I still would've preferred the new one I was developing.

There were 8 posters that came out but I'm only posting 4 here because the others were kinda not-so-so for me. hehehe

Sachin Tendulkar

This one did not come out in the paper. For some reason, a communication glitch got in the way while deciding if an illustration or a photo will be used for the 2011 Cricket World Cup posters. My design director loved this illustration. I personally liked the styke i am using for this one. But the guy from sports think that this photo is nothing like Sachin Tendulkar, the most famous crickiter in India.

Supposedly, my director has the last say on all the pages but the next day we saw the page and they used a photo. Trouble! 

This is the photo that I used as reference for Sachin. Maybe you guys can tell me if my illustration has at least some similarity or not to this lad. This is supposed to be a caricature, NOT a portrait of Sachin.

Cricket World Cup Columnists

Another world cup is here! I didn't know that cricket has one but i do know that it is big in India and some other country like Pakistan and South Africa. I dont really understand how the game works, I just thought it's like the Asian version of baseball because they use a bat.

This event is going to end until April. Damn. It's some world cup! They say one match could last for four hours or more. So that's probably why this event will run for 2 months. Oh well, it will be an opportunity for us in the paper- more advertisers, more fun for the illustators and designers to boost the portfolio. hehe

As for me, I started with these men who knows the game inside out.

From left to right: Gordon greenidge, Geoff mash, Glenn Turner, Aravinda De Silva, Javed Mandad, & Clive Lloyd

Fom left to right: Mathew Hayden, Sir Richard Hadlee, Michael Holding, Shoab Malik, Mohinder Amarnath, & Sauran Ganguly

Related articles

• Hosts hope global gathering repairs their reputations (independent.co.uk)
• Cricket World Cup: India Is the Favored Home Team, but Can It Win? (nytimes.com)
• Australia vs South Africa (AUS vs SA) ICC World Cup 2011 warm-up live cricket score, streaming and highlights (panasianbiz.com)

More SND hype!

It's not over yet! We're still floating in a bubble with the SND hype. Although we're now anxiously waiting for the final result, its gonna be an agonizing wait for the remaining weeks of February as the judges closes in for the final breakdown of all the winning entries.

In the meantime, let's check Dr. Mario Garcia's own hype of this historic event for all of us here in Times of Oman and Al Shabiba. He is, by the way the man behind all the redesign of the paper. And because of him, i became a part of the design team of Times and Shabiba.

I still look at the Times of Oman and its recent finish as second only to the giant Los Angeles Times as an incredibly inspiring story.

   ~  Dr. Mario Garcia

Times of Oman goes for total rethinking, redesign
http://garciamedia.com/blog/articles/times_of_oman_goes_for_total_rethinking_redesign

SND NEWS: Times of Oman Bagged 36 Awards!

The UNOFFICIAL RESULT of the 32nd edition of the SND competition has just been posted. No breakdown on which categories were won and who's pages made it, yet, but this is one great news for all of us here! We made it to the second top winners among all 23 countries that entered this competition.

Imagine, we beat some of the big names by a few awards. The New York Times, The Washington Post and more! wooohhhooooo!!!

If you are not familiar with SND, it is the equivalent of the Oscar Awards for us in the publication industry all over the world. Epic!

Good job Times of Oman! Now people will know where Oman is in the map! :)

Breaking News: SND Sports Charactures

ok, i am trying to be as calm as i can as i am  typing and not misspell every single word here..

It would not be the Sunday of the “big game” without the arrival of a collection of  sports figure caricatures. Sure, none of those illustrated are actually in this year’s game. But that’s beside the point…

SND has posted its selected entries for the sports illustrations. if you're a follower of my blog, you will know that i have tons and tons of caricatures for sports. it was a sure category for me to enter. i only prayed that i could at least get an award of excellence, never mind the medals.

tadddaaaann... I GOT SELECTED!!! i am sweating like  a pig when my design director, Adonis Durado called me at 1AM to inform me about the news! holy cow! i made it, i feel like a real winner now. thank you, thank you, thank you Lord.. :)

It's the 6th illustration in the 8 charactures. wait...let me remind myself that there were hundreds if not thousands of entries in this category. damn!

**
but no official word yet. hihihi.. im toooo ecstatic!

Breaking News: SND entry updates

The newspaper i am working at, Times of Oman and Al Shabiba joined an international newspaper competition in SND (Society for News Design) for the best newspaper designs under more than a dozen categories. For a newspaper in Oman, it's the first time to compete internationally against such big publication names. AND being recognized for starters is more than enough for all of us who have been working so hard to make this newspaper designed intellectually for the readers in Oman.
 
Kudos to every one in Times of Oman! :)

Here is he brief article of recognition. All of us here in the newspaper are on our toes waiting for the results. I am personally waiting if some of my illustrations will get  a medal! If i don't, i am wishing for an Award of Excellence and get published in the book this year. crossing my fingers and toes now.

Stripper Collection: Apathy

Valentines Day is coming! Anybody up for something sexy to give the significant other??

The Stripper Collection is a set of illustrations i made last year which i plan to develop in to a book. It may be a long shot but that was supposed to be my initial plan. If it doesn't push through, this journal surely will.

These journals are for sale. I have stationaries too. For those who are in Muscat, Oman who wants to buy, just email me. These are limited editions and only very few copies are with me. For those in Cebu City Philippines, let me know if you're interested, this can be made to order. Anybody outside both the countries i mentioned- maybe we can set up a deal ;)

Here is the first one--

~Apathy~

The stripper feels nothing, no more than the pleasure of pain. 

She feeds on it and hunts for it.

The journal  final cover

 The original sketch

that's a huge 2010 right there, i hope you don't mind :)

For orders, email me at lucille.umali@gmail.com or just leave a message here ;)